


The Time, They Are A Changing

by Lifotni



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 09:44:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17221580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lifotni/pseuds/Lifotni
Summary: I learned how to make page break lines. No more dash underscores, y'all, I know its very sad.





	The Time, They Are A Changing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Plenoptic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plenoptic/gifts).



> I learned how to make page break lines. No more dash underscores, y'all, I know its very sad.

“Orion, you can still barely stand up straight…” Ariel sighed as she reached up her hand towards the apartment’s ceiling. The tip of her middle finger touched the paneling before her forearm even cleared past her head. 

“I’m sorry I can't do ya better,” the landlord shrugged as he waited at the door, “but this floor has the highest ceiling in the complex.” 

Orion threw a hand up and nodded his head somewhat disgruntledly, continuing to survey the apartment space and swaying his weight from the front of his peds to his heels as he mewled over their growing lists of pros and cons. 

Ariel set her hand on the countertop and glided her thumb along the surface. This was the third complex they had visited, but for their rent budget and for the sake of at least making an attempt to fill out their checklist of needs, the search was proving difficult to say the least. 

Orion tilted his head as he looked back at Ariel, knowing who it would be that would make the ultimate decision. He wasn't too keen on having to keep his audials fixed down so not to constantly knock them into the ceiling as he walked about, but that was better than having to practically hunch over at the other two complexes they visited. 

“Give us the orn to think about it and we'll get back to you,” Ariel said as she turned from her partner and back to face the landlord. 

“Alright, you two,” the mech nodded, knocking his knuckles twice against the door frame he had previously been leaning on. “Just use that same number ya got me by the first time. This one ain't goin’ nowhere.”

* * *

“How many appointments do you have today?” Orion asked as he took the first sip from his morning energon. Too hot still. 

“I'm checking now…” Ariel drifted as she leaned on the counter and skimmed down the datapad in her hand. “Alright, I have five for sure, but the last one is a visit, so I'll…” she pursed her lipplates as she thought. “I'll try to be home normal time.” 

Orion nodded and leaned his back against the counter -rather his aft since the little island counter was just under the small of his back. 

The couple’s soft chatter continued as gentle music came from a perpetually playing radio resting on a previously used and slightly abused table in the corner. 

After a comfortable silence stretched between them, Orion asked, “Want to… want to go out tonight?” 

Ariel paused in the midst of replying to a friend’s text she had received sometime during the night. She looked up to him with her devoted attention and found two sleep-deprived optics gazing back. “Where would you like to go?” 

“I don't know,” Orion shrugged, and the corner of his mouth lifted the slighted bit as a smirk betrayed him concealing his intentions. “Maybe we’ll start with a drive and then see where that takes us? If  
there's anything you've taught me in…” his smile began to broaden as Ariel slowly pushed herself up and back to her peds, “all these deca-cycles,” he reached out to take her smaller, and far more sleek hand into his own and laced their fingers together as her other hand arrived to the counter on the side of his hip, “...its how to at least attempt spontaneity.” 

Ariel continued their optic contact throughout, now looking back to him directly and doing that thing he couldn't begin to articulate how much he loved when she smiled with her gaze rather than her mouth. 

“That was smooth.” She allowed herself to giggle when he blinked in agreement. 

“I've been practicing.” 

“Oh, have you?”

“Yes. And a mirror may or may not have been involved.” 

“What dedication…” 

“I try.” 

Ariel sighed as she considered the chronometer. “Get up on the counter. We have some time.” 

Orion’s smile quickly morphed into a grin as he hefted himself onto the counter and pushed away his energon cube away. Two heinously gentle sets of fingers then arrived at his waist and began to creep down… 

“Even after last night?” 

Ariel shrugged as she looked down, being quite particular about how she would continue. “You're cute,” she paused as their audios perked to the sound of a soft click, “and I happen to like you. Need I a  
better reason?” 

“No.”

* * *

Orion tried not to pace, but the constant aimless movement was a necessity for him to keep the worst of his anxieties away. 

He wasn't clingy. No. No matter how many times he was accused of being such by his friends, he wasn't clingy. He was entirely capable of being without his partner for extended periods of time. He’d gone his entire life up until just over a meta-cycle ago without her and reverting back to that state wasn't difficult… or so the theory posed. 

Orion wouldn't find fault in missing his partner as they had to part for 5 orns. He was well aware of her business, but such activity was something they both agreed wasn't the sort he needed his face documented in quite yet. Quite yet. 

And yet, such things only impeded on his ability to function in his own vocations as he fretted endlessly with echoing questions for when she might text him next to tell him where she was and that she was safe. 

His only real comfort, however, was Megatronus being there. The Gladiatorial’s greatest warrior wouldn't allow for even a wayward glance to befall unto the femme. Even in such a political setting, Orion still knew this was true. 

He checked for a message once again, swearing he heard the solitary notification from his comm., but of course there was nothing. Even so, he knew he would receive an optical alert when she messaged that she had arrived in the station. 

Glancing to his small makeshift station on the short border wall confining a small garden, he sat down on the ledge and felt if the energon he brought for her was getting cold. Ariel didn't like it hot, and such was convenient because what was inside the vessel certainly wasn't that anymore. She liked it warm rather. Warm like… like her belly in the morning when he would wake to see her pulled close to him and have his palm to her midsection. She got to be like a furnace at night, keeping him warm rather than vice versa. 

Yes, warm like she made his hands at night was how Ariel preferred her energon. What an analogy. 

He wasn't clingy. No. 

“What's up, nerd? Ya miss me?” 

Orion head could have broken the sound barrier for how fast he pivoted it in the direction of her voice, and there, her phone still glowing in her hand, she stood. 

She giggled as he got to his peds and took the two-paced required over to her, and the bags over her shoulder found a place to sit on the ground. 

“‘Sup, dweeb.” Orion grinned as he mimicked her slang and his hands found the back of her thighs to hefted her up by and into his arms. “Terribly so…” 

“Oh, you poor thing,” Ariel cooed as she took her arms around his neck. “Well, we'll just have to take care of that, huh?” She brought her head forward to steal his lips with her own, placing a rather chaste kiss upon them. Teasing. 

However, Orion wouldn't have it. “Come ‘ere.” He smiled against her lips as she kissed him once again, letting it delve a little deeper. Maybe a little too much for a terminal… but she was also being held like a youngling. 

She flashed her denta as they parted, grinning down to him as she cupped his cheeks in her palms. “You still kiss wet.” 

“I'm beginning to think that's you, love.” Orion hefted her up further as he finished with the endearment. “I don’t know how you expect me to help it when your glossa is trying to swap with mine.” 

“That’s… true. But hey, tone down being the most photogenic mechfriend in all the land and put me down.” 

He mocked disdain at her request as he set her back to the ground, but his arms were soon employed with carrying her bags. “That's your energon there,” he said as he rolled the strap on his shoulder; all datapads. “I'm sorry if it's gotten a bit cold.” 

“Nah.” Ariel shook her head as she took a sip, dramatizing for a moment her reaction as the sickeningly sweet liquid traversed her glossa. He knew how she liked it. “You know I don't like hot drinks,” she said as she took his free hand. “Just hot mechs… and nerds.” 

Orion rolled his optics. “And it starts…” 

Ariel only laughed as she gave his hand a squeeze.

* * *

“What do you think of him?” 

Megatronus grit his denta as he continued to look out across the city, Tarn, as the sun began to set over the horizon. “You don’t want me to answer that.” 

Ariel cocked her brow at the unsurprising reply. “Oh, but I _do _,” she intoned as she continued to type away. “He is hanging around, so I would appreciate you divulging your thoughts.”__

The brooding mech refolded his arms. “I've never known you to ever reconsider your conquests for the sake of someone's opinion.” Megatronus didn't try to conceal the bite in his statement, for he knew she wouldn't try to disagree. 

A disagreement of some sort was taking place far below their suite's balcony, though they could only hear the two angered voices dueling each other. 

“And you're right,” Ariel said as she settled with ignoring the ruckus. “But unfortunately, I’ve come to value your input.” 

Megatronus righted himself up from where he had been leaning on the balcony rail, turning his head first with his torso to follow as faced Ariel. She followed his every move, unable to turn away her subconscious apprehension as he shrouded her from the evening sun. 

“How unfortunate.” He smirked as he found his seat across from her at the -small- table. “I have no disdain for him if that is your concern. I'm just dubious to believe he won't go and put a crack in your spark… Not break it, but just a crack.” 

Ariel nodded, setting down her datapad as she settled back in her chair. She picked up her glass of high-grade and took a sip.

“What would you say if I were to admit I think I love him?” 

“I'd say that isn't news.”

“Hm.” 

The gladiator watched her first finger drag along the rim of her high-grade glass. “Have you two managed an interface?” 

Ariel smirked. “Yes.”

“Did he get you to overload?” 

“ _Yes _.”__

____

“Ah, so he is already fairing better.” 

_Primus _. “Yes. He is.”__

* * *

____

“When are you coming up?” Orion asked as he watched Ariel fold up a paint-splattered tarp. She set it on the pile with its kin in the corner of the room where they were otherwise out of sight. 

“Uh... probably just in a few,” she said over her shoulder. “I gotta mix the paint for my first appointment yet.” 

Orion nodded, already calculating in his processor the round-about time that equated to. She would probably be back up to their apartment in five or so breems. “Alright, I'll see ya up th-”

“Hey.” 

The blue and red mech whirled back around on his just as he was in the midst of heading back up the stairs to the second floor -the floor the apartments began. “Yeah?” 

Ariel was now facing him, her expression more quizzical than concerned. “Ya alright?” 

Orion nodded. “Yeah, I'm fine, sweetspark. Just a bit tired.” _Ha! ___

Ariel bought it, however. “Yeah, I think we should both think about crashing early tonight, huh?” she proposed as she set her hands in her hips. “Get on up, love. I'll be right up.” 

And thus was decimated Orion's courage on attempt number one.

* * *

“My Lady,” Orion greeted as he walked up to their shared berth. 

Ariel looked up from the datapad she was reading (skimming) and smiled back to him warmly. “Hello, my lord,” she returned in kind, gratifying her partner’s somewhat disenfranchised love for dramatics. 

He delivered her a curt bow, which instigated a giggle just nanoseconds before he plopped down next to her on their berth with a hefty sigh. 

Ariel tensed as she was jostled, but she could only continue to laugh as he scooted himself up immediately beside her. 

“What up, nerd?” she spoke past a kiss to his helm. 

“Warm…” Orion practically purred as he curled his much larger frame up against her and laid an arm over her waist. 

“As per usual, your own personal furnace.” She continued to read the datapad as he amused himself by encouraging her legs to rest themselves on top of his own, making furniture out of himself for her. How romantic of him. 

“Are we reading, writing, or none of the above?”

Ariel sighed as she set the datapad onto the nightstand next to her side of the berth. “I _was _proofreading, but then this very atrociously gorgeous mech decided to throw himself on my bed, and I don’t  
quite know what to think about it.” __

__“Hm. A conundrum.”_ _

__“An enigma.”_ _

__“How rude of him.”_ _

__“I know right?”_ _

__Ariel skimmed the tips of her fingers along his crest, listening of the soft metallic _shhhh _as she went to the back of his helm and up again. “I love you.”___ _

____Orion propped himself onto his arm, letting himself loom over her instead. Cuddling her could certainly wait considering how young the night still was._ _ _ _

____It could make them both laugh as they considered how domesticity had allowed for them to have no qualms with going to their berth before the moons had even come into view, yet here they were just now, committing to the preamble for the rest of the acts likely to play out tonight. Orion allowed himself the moment to dance his gaze about her face, focusing on each and every deliberate curve from her jaw to her cheeks, then to her arching noseplate. She was not fond of it, but as had become his preference for every asset which Primus had bestowed her, Orion began to favor nose plates which were shaped in an exact manner that Ariel's had been sculpted. Love can bestow one the ability to hold such opinions. The entirety of her face was in such harmony with each of its components that he couldn't help but marvel at his firsthand access to it, and fortunately, she humored him most of the time. The arch of her nose and how it effortlessly led to her just ever so slightly upturning optics… Astounding._ _ _ _

____Her lipplates, however, were a personal favorite._ _ _ _

____“Love you too…” he finally whispered back as he met her optics once again._ _ _ _

____“Done sightseeing?” She smiled knowingly, brushing the back of her fingers along the side of his helm._ _ _ _

____“No.”_ _ _ _

____“Well, what if I am?”_ _ _ _

____“Then what will you have me do?” He needn't ask, for he knew her answer, but their banter -if it would be called such- was far too enjoyable._ _ _ _

____Ariel paused before replying, letting Orion move her as he needed to position himself over her. A hand found the back of her thigh and brought it to idle at his hip._ _ _ _

____Primus, he was beautiful. What a nerd._ _ _ _

____“Slow.”_ _ _ _

* * *

____“There is no fragging way, I'm allowing him anywhere near here.” Something akin to fire glared in Ariel's optics as she pointed to her phone. It still had the lost contact glowing on the screen. “Not even if it were just you and I still, but that isn't the case anymore.”_ _ _ _

____“I hear you, love, I do,” Orion reiterated, having heard a recantation of Ariel's opinion on the matter several times now. “I know I'm not going to convince you, but we can't stay here any longer. Neither can-”_ _ _ _

____Ariel whipped her hand up and silenced him, looked away aimlessly into the corner of the apartment where her optics focused on a small ball that served as a projectile for the toy gun sitting on the couch. “Orion… Sweetspark, the last resort should be for us to leave here, not bail at the first hint of suspicion. Yeah, of fragging course they know where we live, but it'll be suspicious as all get out if we leave now. If we leave, they know, and if Megatronus comes back they-”_ _ _ _

____“-know,” Orion finished. “I know. But if they were to ever find out who wrote it…”_ _ _ _

____“They'll realize everything, yes. They'll know who they’re _ghost _is. Every speech, every _propaganda _, every article, letter, the _design _... Everything. And they’ll have no other candidates to go after, so there is no point in leaving now.”_______ _ _ _

__________The couple delved into silence as the recognition of their reality became more apparent than ever before. Ariel sat beside her partner on the foot of their birth and let her optics rest upon a single, solitary spot of blue on the floor where Orion’s heel must have skid once before._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________She let him move her hand freely as he took it into his own and brought the back of it to his lips, where their audios then perked up to the sound of him placing a kiss upon it. Then another._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Everything is going to be alright…”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Ariel nodded, still fixed on the floor. “I love you.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“I love you, too.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Orion didn’t know which one from the menagerie of thoughts barraging his mind could have spurred it, but he couldn’t hold himself from tearing up at that moment, unable to inhibit the liquid from pooling in his optics._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________It took only a moment then for her to pull him in, and his faceplate found its place against her neck._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“We fragged up, brightspark,” Ariel whispered, though the intonation altered in her voice even in those few syllables and made it apparent her vocals were so very close to cracking._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“I know.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

* * *

__________She was recharging on their couch when he walked in, directly facing the door as if she had been watching it till the very moment her optics betrayed her and shuttered._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Orion sighed as he quietly set down his satchel on the island counter, steering clear to not lay it onto some strew paper on the far side with a stylus seeming about ready to roll off near the corner._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________He stepped lightly so not to rouse her, looking at the parchments as his optics adjusted to the darkly lit apartment -only the light on the table next to his side of the couch was on- and nspected the papers._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________She was drawing Cybertronian anatomy, just as she had for the past deca-cycle it seemed due to what she diagnosed as “chronic artblock”. However, he knew she was just stressed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Ariel adjusted her leg behind him, reinstating his attention as he turned to place his optics back upon her sleeping frame. The couch was too short, but she liked to hook her leg over the back._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Hey…” he whispered as he knelt down beside her and rested his hand on her shoulder. “Brightspark, let's go to the berth.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________One blaring bright optic opened for him first, then the next as they fluttered online and drew a smile from him. “Orion? It’s… You’re early…?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Yeah, love, I figured I could go on home.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Ariel sat up slowly, stretching her back as he pulled her into a soft embrace. Her arms fell around his shoulders, tugging him close. “I missed you.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“And I you.” He took her up into his arms and stood, carrying her the few paces over to their berth._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________She reached up to him upon being lain down onto the soft and giving material, and he took her invitation as they enraptured each other in a kiss. He moved somewhat automatedly, slinging his legs onto the berth to straddle her thighs._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Each and every motion was practiced, tested, and somewhat perfected. There was no hesitation, only subconscious expectation as they moved in unsymmetrical synchrony._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Ariel held him close, yet his hands clung tighter as they found the grooves between her plating and found purchase to hold on and steady himself._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Ariel…”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The radio set a gentle beat as a wordless composition melded with the soft gasps resonating from the berth as the two frames upon it continued to entangle themselves in one another._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

* * *

__________“What are you reading?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Elita One looked up and over her datapad to see Optimus’s shadow moving on the floor in their private washroom. “Writing. And it’s just for kicks. Nothing Prowl will want to confiscate.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Hm. What about?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The femme commander pursed her lips as she considered how to divulge to him what exactly she had been scanning for the better part of her time home. “Uh, well… I don't think I can quite disclose that yet.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________All activity in the washroom halted as Optimus peered over to his sparkmate from around the doorframe. “And why not?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Be _cause _,” Elita shrugged, “I might decide to change it all in the next breem.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Optimus continued to clear the solvent from his plating with an absorbency cloth, watching as the droplets were swept away. “Now would this be the one you were working on the other night, or is this different?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Different.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Naturally.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________He soon joined her on their shared berth, lying down onto his front with a sigh. Both their audios swiveled as his spinal strut recited a chorus of pops._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Elita snorted as she looked over to him. “Wow. Might want to get that looked at, sir.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Mm…” he mumbled as he laid his arm over her waist. “Your mech is getting old, Ariel.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Oh, now that I must object, love,” she countered as she set the datapad onto her chest. “Because if that were true, how am I doing so damn _fine _?” She glided the tips of her fingers up from the small of her mate's back to between his shoulders, eliciting a rush of shivers from him. “That never fails.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

____________“No,” Optimus chuckled deeply as he felt the shivers ebbing away as she continued to grace his spinal strut. “No, it doesn't.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> Brightspark,
> 
> I have yet to find a way to tell people how exactly we met without divulging a nearly eight-year long history for context, but maybe having to tell people to sit for a hot minute before we tell them how we came to know each other is a good thing. You're better with sharing your thoughts than I, hence why I'm quicker to iterate that I can't quite tell you how I feel because I'm afraid I won't be able to articulate just what you've come to mean to me. I can't fathom you, and I'm dubious to try, for I've begun to believe that I don't want to yet. I want the process of knowing you to happen slowly....gradually, so please don't ever have any doubts about the pace we're having to take. It not ideal, and I'll be the first to say it, the patience is always worth it.  
> See? I'm getting better at the endearments.
> 
>  
> 
> (Y'all are going to have to read these every damn time/ Get used to it now. I didn't wait this long to be nonchalant)


End file.
